Data Center Efficiency: Pulling It All Together

Making data centers energy efficient is a balancing act, involving a lot of variables. Without a system that brings all those variables together, efficiency improvements are flying blind.

Here's an example from Roland Acre, CEO of Arch Rock. Server makers have raised the maximum temperatures their equipment can run at, giving data center operators room to play with more efficient cooling techniques, he said.

But raising those temperatures might trigger a "panic reaction" from cooling fans within those servers, which will burn more juice than the power you've saved by using less cool air.